In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in the in the amount of digital images being captured. This increase has been fueled by decreases in digital camera prices, increases in quality and ease of use of digital cameras, and the broad adoption of digital image capture features in cell smartphones at all price levels. This proliferation of digital imaging content has exacerbated the long-standing problem of sharing digital images with those who would desire to view them.
Many companies, technologies, and approaches have emerged to address this issue of image sharing. Some companies have taken an image centric centralized approach whereby users upload images to a server and invite other uses to come and view the images. Examples of companies taking this approach include ShutterFly™, Snapfish™, Flickr™, and the like. Other companies take a user centric social approach, whereby existing friend connections may be exploited to distribute images. Examples of companies taking this approach include FaceBook™, MySpace™, and the like.
The problem with these traditional approaches is that they require considerable effort by the sharing user and are not pre-emptive in nature. Predominately, the users must go looking for the images they are interested in instead of the images finding them. These traditional approaches also fail to make connections between users based on the content of their image collections.